You Look Familiar
by Sachie Yoritomo
Summary: When a group of demons invades a supposedly empty part of Spirit World, the global rate of stillbirths skyrockets and the Spirit Detective team is sent to investigate; but when they return, they come home with more than they ever bargained for. T for Violence; HxB; inspired by the music of Shadow of the Colossus.
1. Prologue: To the Ancient Land

Prologue: To the Ancient Land

"In truth, spirit world is a complex system of many different worlds..." Kurama, The Dark Tournament

* * *

"You'd better get going Botan," Koenma said. "You'll have to track them all down and convince them to come with you by tomorrow morning. We just can't put this off any longer."

"Understood sir," Botan replied wearily as she materialized her oar and flew out of his office, through some corridors, out of the castle and through the clouds to the human world.

Koenma sighed. He knew that he was working his detectives extra hard lately, and that they deserved a break- they had returned from the Dark Tournament only a few days ago- and he knew that they wouldn't be happy with him when they arrived in the Spirit World; but he also knew that the situation that had developed on the Styx Highlands could no longer be ignored. Not much was known about the Highlands, a fact that had irritated Koenma as he poured over Intelligence's records as he decided whether or not to send in his best team.

A single expedition had been mounted about three thousand years previous, and they had reported that aside from dry grassland, intermittent forestation and a few large piles of rock, the region was empty and had no obvious signs of habitation. The expedition report hinted that there was a curious orb cemented in one of the rock piles, but when they failed to extract it, they assumed to be of no value and was left as is and no other outcrops were explored. The Highlands were deemed not to be useful or even particularly interesting to the Spirit World, and after the expedition returned, they were all but forgotten about.

In all likelihood, the Highlands would never have been paid any mind if a gang of modestly powerful demons hadn't made their way to the region- an incident, which, in and of itself, didn't require the involvement of Yusuke and the others and would have been handled by other Spirit World Security. The preliminary report said that these demons were after the orb, apparently because of a rumor that claimed the orb- and the others like it, which were supposedly all in the Highlands- was to have strange powers. This, too, would have not been quite severe enough to involve Yusuke and the others, except that as soon as the first artifact was disturbed, the worldwide rate of stillbirths skyrocketed. Fearing what would happen if the demon gang were to find and take the rest of the artifacts, the Spirit Detective and company were called in to hunt down and destroy the demons, replace the artifact, and secure any others.

* * *

It was early on Friday morning when Botan entered the Human World. She knew she had to act fast to get all four of "her boys", as she mentally called them, rounded up and ready to go by morning. Her plan of attack was thus: she'd start the morning by telling Yusuke and Kuwabara that Koenma had another mission for them and to meet her in the usual place after school, then try to get to Kurama's school and try to get him alone for long enough to tell him the same thing (getting past his fangirl entourage was difficult enough), and then, if all went well, she'd have the entire afternoon to track down Hiei and bribe him to come along again. Realistically, she knew that she'd likely have to bribe all four of them, but she was hopeful, even confident, that the seriousness of the situation would motivate most of them.

She set off for Sariyashiki junior high, and made it there in time to change into her uniform before the bell rang. She made her way to the rooftop, confident that she would find Yusuke there rather than in class, and she wasn't disappointed, finding him lounging spreadeagled on the roof of the stairs, and apparently napping.

Yusuke groaned when he saw her.

"What's the matter Yusuke, you act like you're not happy to see me," she quipped cheerfully at him.

"You got that right!" he spat back angrily. "Keiko is already pissed at how much school I've missed because of the damn Dark Tournament, and I'm downright tired. Tell Koenma to go take care of it himself," he said gruffly, rolling over and trying to ignore her.

"Yes, and I see you're working hard to make up for lost time," Botan said, giggling. He opened one eye and glared at her. "I know that you've all worked very hard lately Yusuke," she said, suddenly very serious, "and believe me when I say that Koenma really didn't want to bring you in on this case, but he had no choice."

"Right," Yusuke said skeptically.

She glanced at her watch- she didn't have time to argue with him this morning- and sighed. "Listen, I promise I'll explain everything in detail when we get everyone together this afternoon," she said. "Will you bring Kuwabara with you?"

Yusuke didn't respond, and she knew this was her cue to make him an offer. "I'll tell you what Yusuke, if you come I'll be sure to forget to mention to Keiko how you skipped class again to nap up on the roof, even though you promised you'd be a good student," she said slyly, turning away from him.

"Ah! You wouldn't!" Yusuke called after her, sitting up.

"There's only one way for you to find out, isn't there?" she replied, looking over her shoulder. Yusuke grumbled and she smiled, knowing that she had been successful. "See you this afternoon!" she said cheerfully, jumping down from the roof and heading inside.

* * *

She managed to get out of Sariyashiki without being seen by any teachers by 9:30, which she considered a modest success. Kurama's school was about a half an hour walk from Yusuke and Kuwabara's, and since it was the middle of the day she'd have to do just that. Koenma would have her hide if she went flying around on her oar in the middle of rush hour. It didn't matter too much; Kurama's school had already started, and unlike Yusuke, she could count on him to actually be in his classes. That meant that the earliest that she could catch up to him would be at noon, when his class had lunch. Since it was a nice day, odds were high that he would eat on the lawn reading a book instead of with the rest of his class.

She took her time getting there, deciding to take a short shopping detour since she normally spent so little time in the Human World, and arrived at 11:45. At 12:02, Kurama emerged from the building and made his way over to the tree she was sitting under. "Well hello Botan," he said warmly. "I take it there's news from Spirit World?" he asked, sitting next to her.

"I'm afraid so," she replied.

He frowned slightly, sighed, and said, "I'm sure you'll be telling us all this afternoon what's going on, but do you mind giving me the short version?"

Botan shook her head. "I figured you'd say something like that," she said, "considering all the work you guys have been doing lately. A demon gang has entered the Spirit World and seems to have taken an artifact that influences life here in the Human World very much," she said. "Almost immediately after we detected them, the number of stillbirths around the world increased 15% literally overnight, and we're concerned they're connected. Koenma wants his best people on the case so it gets cleared up right away," she said.

After a short pause, Kurama said, "Have you spoken to Hiei yet?"

She shook her head. "No," she said. "He's next on my list. If I have any trouble with him I'll be back in a couple of hours to get you," she finished, rising and brushing off her skirt.

Kurama smiled up at her reassuringly. "His bark is worse than his bite," he said blithely. "He talks a good game about how he's babysitting all of us, but I do think he enjoys our missions on some level," he said.

She smiled at him. "Thanks for the pep talk, Kurama," she said sincerely, and she walked away.

* * *

Botan made her way from Kurama's school towards an upscale ice cream parlor on the edge of the park where Hiei made his home. In the last several months, she'd had a lot of opportunities to learn how best to bribe Hiei. She knew that what he wanted most of all was to be free of working for Koenma and free to roam about as he pleased, but she didn't have the power to promise him a shorter probation period or a greater range to move about in and Koenma was certainly not going to let one of their best fighters go so easily. Instead, she'd found that the old saying 'a way to a man's heart is through his stomach' to be some of the best advice she'd ever heard, and had discovered (with a little help from Kurama) that Hiei had a particularly sweet tooth and a curious fondness for what he called "sweet snow". She entered the store, which was empty, and bought a small cone and a large bowl with all the toppings. She made her way to the park and sat on a bench that was in the sunshine. She placed the large bowl of ice cream on the bench beside her and stuck a spoon in it. She glanced down at her watch, and decided to give him 3 minutes to come peacefully before she pulled out her whistle and made him. She knew full well that he had known as soon as she stepped foot into the Human World- somehow he always did- and she also knew that he knew precisely where she was and, more likely than not, precisely why she was there.

'This is your 2 minute warning, Hiei,' she thought, in case he was listening. 'I didn't buy you expensive ice cream to let it melt out here.'

While she waited, she couldn't help but smirk at her own genius. This bench in the park is where Yusuke, Kurama and Kuwabara would be meeting her in just a few hours. She had made this their meeting spot when, after several attempts at getting Hiei to meet with the rest of the team, she had found it much easier to bring them to him. The system she'd developed for situations just like today gave her plenty of time to look for him, bribe him with some kind of treat, and otherwise argue with him about if he was coming on their mission before everyone else arrived. Sometimes she had to convince him that going on a particular mission was in his best interest, but it had been a long time since she had had to threaten to have Yusuke put him back in jail.

The ice cream next to her disappeared off the park bench, and she looked up to find it in the hands of a grumpy looking Hiei. "Is it butter brickle this time?" he asked gruffly.

"Yes," she replied, "and it has everything you like in it too."

"Hn. So I take it Koenma's looking for a babysitter again," he said, shoveling a spoonful of ice cream into his mouth.

"There's another mission for you boys, yes," she replied. "In Spirit World this time- a gang of demons has been causing trouble in the Highlands."

"Hn."

"It sounds like these demons are after some sort of artifacts, but that's about all I know so far. Spirit World Intelligence hasn't been very helpful this time," she said, licking her ice cream cone.

Hiei snorted and almost choked on a mouthful of butter brickle.

Normally she would have defended Spirit World from his mental derision, but on this particular occasion she had to agree with him. The fact of the matter was that Spirit World Intelligence had really dropped the ball this time, and with only a crude map to guide them, they were going to have a very difficult time on this mission.

Hiei seemed to have read her thoughts, for he didn't inquire further on the nature of the mission and the pair fell into a brief silence. Botan finished her small ice cream cone and looked at her watch- 2:40- and sighed. The other boys would be arriving around 3:15. She looked up at Hiei and said, "Better eat your ice cream. They'll be here soon."

"Hn," he replied, and flitted away. Botan wasn't worried, though. He'd eavesdrop from a nearby tree when the rest of the boys arrived or maybe even join in on the conversation. She stretched and stood up, then made her way out of the park and to a busy cafe nearby, where she changed back into her kimono, and returned to the park bench.

She arrived to see Yusuke and Kuwabara sitting and joking, and she could see Hiei sitting in the tree above them, looking greatly peeved. Kurama was not long behind, and he joined his friends on the bench.

"So, what you got for us this time, Botan?" asked Kuwabara.

"Yeah, and it had better be really freaking good to get me to miss this weekend," Yusuke chimed in.

"Okay boys, so here's the skinny," she began. "A demon gang has invaded a part of the Spirit World known as the Styx Highlands, which as far as we know, is empty. Nothing lives out there, unless you count the grass and trees. It was explored a few thousand years ago," she said, pulling a copy of the map from her kimono sleeve, "and they found a strange orb stuck in a pile of rocks. I guess they must have decided it was just a weird rock, because they left it there and didn't check to see if there were any more. Anyway, a rumor got started in the Demon World that there were many orbs like this and when brought together they have a great power, and that's why they've decided to go after them," Botan continued.

"So lemme get this straight," Yusuke interrupted. "Koenma wants us to go find and fight some demons that are after orbs that might have super powers but might actually just be plain old rocks, and you don't know how many there are or even where they are?"

"Well, yes, sort of," Botan replied, and the group groaned. "Let me continue," she said, "because we certainly wouldn't have involved you if we weren't pretty sure they were more than just plain old rocks.

"The demons entered Spirit World about a week ago, and we've been able to monitor them from their demon energy. Three days ago they showed up right where we think this outcrop is," she said, pointing at the map, "and there was a disturbance in Spirit World, something of an earthquake, you might say. Since then, the number of still births world wide is 15 percent greater than what it was before," she said.

"Woah!" said Kuwabara.

"Just in the last 3 days?" exclaimed Yusuke.

Botan nodded. "Like I was saying," she continued, "We're pretty sure it wasn't just an ordinary rock. We aren't sure what it is, what it really does or how many more there are," she said seriously, "but right now our goal is to stop the demons causing all this trouble first and ask questions second," she finished.

"When do we leave?" asked Kurama.

"First thing tomorrow morning. I know that doesn't leave much time for you to say goodbye and make your excuses, but time is of the essence," she said. The team exchanged a grim look, and then she continued. "You three had better be off. You could be gone for quite a while, so be sure to take care of your affairs as best you can before you go, and try to get a good night's sleep," she said and then materialized her oar. "See you in the morning!" she called, and then she flew away.

* * *

Update 12/6/14: Made some changes to better reflect where this takes place in the story, changed the increase in still births from 15x to 15 percent, which is still a large but much more reasonable figure, and removed a Shatner comma or two. As always, thanks to my lovely husband who betas for me.

~S


	2. Chapter 1: Silence

Chapter 1: Silence

Just after sunrise the next morning, Yusuke, Kurama and Kuwabara made their way through the park towards their designated meeting spot. They were out of their school uniforms today, and each wore jeans and a T shirt and carried a backpack.

"Ugh, why does Koenma make us leave for these missions so damn early?" Kuwabara moaned as he stretched and yawned.

"Koenma would rather we kept a low profile. Five teenagers disappearing out of a crowded area might draw unwanted attention," said Kurama.

Kuwabara adjusted the bag he was carrying and grumbled. "My sister gave me a lecture that lasted until midnight about how skipping school so much is going to ruin my future," he whined.

"Tell me about it," Yusuke said. "Keiko was so mad, I'm pretty sure she left a dent in my face this time," he complained loudly, rubbing his left cheek.

"Jeez Urameshi," Kuwabara snickered, "if Keiko is so much tougher than you, maybe I should be Spirit Detective instead," Kuwabara said, rubbing his nose and smirking. "At least _I_ wouldn't get beaten up by a _girl_," he continued, laughing.

Yusuke glared at Kuwabara and raised his fist. "Oh yeah? Maybe you'd like to prove how tough you are," he sneered.

"Come on you punk, let's see what you're made of!" Kuwabara shot back.

Kurama walked past his two friends as they began to trade punches. He knew the fight wasn't serious, and he wasn't concerned that they would get into too much trouble before they even left. He walked toward the tree he knew Hiei was in, and looked up at his friend. Hiei looked for all the world like he was asleep, but Kurama knew he was pretending in the hope that he would be left alone. For the moment, Kurama decided to humor him and sat down on a nearby bench to wait for Botan.

A couple of moments later, Ayame appeared nearby and joined Kurama. "Botan is very busy this morning preparing for your expedition," she explained. "Are you ready to go?" she asked, looking from Kurama to Hiei, who was still pretending to be asleep, then to Kuwabara and Yusuke who were still fooling about.

"Nearly," Kurama said, standing up from the bench. He walked up to the other two boys and tried to get their attention. "Come now," he said calmly, "let's save our energy for the expedition."

Yusuke had Kuwabara in a headlock, and the pair looked up at his words. Yusuke glanced between Kurama and Ayame and released Kuwabara with a sigh. "Aw come on ma, way to ruin all the fun," he said jokingly.

The three young men walked back to Ayame, and Yusuke looked up into the tree where Hiei was. "What about you, Hiei?" he asked, "Are you ready to go?"

Kuwabara didn't give his teammate any time to answer. "What're you asking him for, Urameshi? It's not like we need him to come. We all know that _I'm_ the one that's going to beat all the monsters and save the world, and then Yukina will definitely be my girlfriend!" he declared, striking a pose.

Yusuke rolled his eyes and forced himself not to smirk. He knew that Hiei wasn't motivated by glory or saving the day, but he wasn't about to stand for Kuwabara buttering up his sister.

Hiei jumped down out of the tree and walked past Yusuke and Kuwabara, ignoring them a little too purposefully.

Yusuke looked over to Ayame and said, "Well, I take that as a yes. Let's move out!"

Yusuke and the others, in spite of being some of Spirit World's top warriors, did not actually spend very much, if any, time there. This was Yusuke's first trip back to Spirit World since he had died, and this was Kuwabara's first trip there at all. After picking himself up from a rather clumsy landing, he stared in awe at the massive palace that stood before them. He did not have long to admire his surroundings, as Ayame appeared and ushered them through the mouth-shaped gates and into the palace. She led them past the clamoring ogre office staff, many of whom were quite terrified of Hiei, and into the bowels of the large building. After a number of twists and turns, she found the door she wanted and opened it, revealing a poorly lit spiral stone staircase that seemingly continued down forever.

"Watch your step," she said, holding the door open as the team filed by.

After what seemed like an eternity, the group finally reached the bottom landing with only a single, windowless wooden door. Not waiting for Ayame, Yusuke pushed it open and stepped, flinching, into the bright sunlight.

They had arrived at the shore of the River Styx, and had stepped out from the base of the palace onto a wooden pier. There were six small boats moored to the dock, with ogres and ferry girls hurriedly running between them and the castle. Standing beside the boat at the end of the pier were Botan, dressed casually in jeans and a pink cotton shirt, George, and Koenma, who had come down from on high to supervise.

Botan spotted them, and waved them over. As they approached, Yusuke looked critically at the vessel the others were standing by. The front of the small boat was carved in the shape of a dragon's head, and the back was shaped as a tail with a single long oar hooked into it by a ring and a small platform at the base of the dragon's tail, presumably where the pilot would stand, and in the center rose a mast with a single sail.

"Good morning, boys!" Botan said cheerfully.

Yusuke yawned and adjusted his backpack before giving her a half-hearted glare.

She chose to ignore him and glanced over the other three boys before she continued. "We're all set, so everybody climb aboard!" she said, climbing into the boat and moving to stand in the pilot's position.

Yusuke blinked at her a couple of times. "You mean we're all," he glanced at the others, "going in this thing?" he said skeptically, not convinced that there would be enough room or that their combined weight wouldn't sink the tiny vessel.

"Well yes, unless you'd rather walk all the way there Yusuke and I assure you it's a very long way," she replied.

He sighed and adjusted his pack again before he climbed in and sat at the bow. Kuwabara yawned and followed suit, facing Yusuke and leaning against the central mast.

"Oh, Kurama?" Botan said as he moved to board, "Could you help me out with the sail?"

He glanced at Hiei, who would now be stuck either sitting at Botan's feet or between Kuwabara and Yusuke, and gave him what could have been interpreted as a sympathetic look. Hiei ignored his red-headed friend, and Kurama gave his assent and climbed aboard, with Hiei following immediately after.

"Looks like you're all squared away," Koenma said, and he nodded to George who untied the rope holding them to the dock and tossed it to Kurama.

"Bon Voyage," said George, and with an almighty pull on her oar, Botan pushed the boat away from the dock and began to row them down the river.

Once they had started down the river, Hiei sat down in front of Botan and made himself as comfortable as possible. Kurama's sympathy had been misplaced; while it appeared that Hiei only just tolerated Botan- and he worked hard to maintain that image- the truth was much more complicated. He didn't want to spend the next several hours so close to her, of course, but it was still better than sitting with Kuwabara, listening to him bicker with Yusuke.

At least here he could get some rest, he thought to himself, and and he closed his eyes.

* * *

Hiei had been in Koenma's prison for almost a month before they came for him.

By then, Kurama had gotten off with what essentially managed to be a slap on the wrist- time served indeed- for their crimes, which Hiei knew thanks to the whispers of his jailers and, largely, to his Jagan eye.

He'd wondered absently once or twice if they would come for him. Unlike Kurama, Hiei hadn't stolen the artifacts of darkness to save his dying human mother and had none of the same redeeming qualities as his fox friend: he wasn't about to swear his allegiance to the prince of the Spirit World and he would probably rather die than serve at his beck and call. Indeed, he decided, they wouldn't come for him at all unless they were truly desperate and had all but run out of options.

He was so sure that he had resigned himself to sitting in his dark and dripping cell in the heart of Koenma's vast palace until he shuffled off this mortal coil. It had never occurred to him to decide if he'd accept an offer should they find an occasion to ask him.

He was, therefore, quite unprepared for a royal visit that day.

He had been asleep when the prison door opened in the distance with a loud clang. He opened his eyes as he heard footsteps approaching, and Koenma, followed by the ever-dutiful ogre George, waddled up to his cell and hopped onto a conveniently placed stool.

Hiei lay flat on his back on the wooden bed and looked at them from the corners of his eyes. "What have you come to offer me?" he sneered.

Koenma didn't mince words. "Probation, in exchange for your services defending Spirit World's interests," he replied flatly.

"Oh? Your precious little detective can't handle his job alone?" he said, his teeth gleaming in the darkness as he turned his head to face the tiny prince. Koenma didn't reply, but it didn't bother Hiei. "Who do you need my help with," he said mockingly as he sat up and turned to sit facing his visitors.

"We're sending you all to the City of Ghosts and Apparitions to fight the Four Saint Beasts," Koenma said flatly.

Hiei chuckled, and replied, "No, not even _you_ would be so foolish as to send him there alone." Koenma didn't respond to his jeer, and silence fell between them. The conflict rose up in him again- he detested the idea of being a puppet for the Spirit World, but the desire to be free and to fight again was starting to silence that part of him.

Koenma took advantage of Hiei's inner struggle. "You understand, we need your decision now. Once I leave, this offer is off the table."

Hiei locked eyes with Koenma and stalked unblinking towards him, stopping only when the wards on the bars of the cell that held him crackled and would let him come no closer to his captor. George was thoroughly intimidated by the advance and glanced nervously between the bars and the cuffs on Hiei's wrists that bound his hands together and prevented the use of his spirit energy, as if wondering if it were possible for the demon to break free.

"Deal," he hissed.

Koenma broke eye contact with the demon and turned to shout down the hallway. "Let him out!" he called.

A reply of "Yes, sir!" came from two other ogres out of Hiei's line of sight. They shuffled up to door of his cell, opened it, and led him out of the prison.

They ushered him into the palace proper where the bright fluorescent lights burned his eyes. He stood blinded in the vestibule, wincing and blinking, for a moment before he saw Kurama waiting in front of them. "You'll take him from here?" the ogre on his right said skeptically. Kurama nodded, and the ogre fiddled with the cuffs on Hiei's wrists briefly to remove them.

Their task complete, the ogres left the two demons. "Ready to earn your pardon?" Kurama asked cheerfully.

Rubbing his newly free wrists, Hiei frowned at Kurama. "Babysitting," was his only response.

Kurama chuckled at his friend. "Let's go, then," he said.

* * *

Hiei and Kurama made their way back to the breach in the barrier between the living world and the City, half dragging and half carrying the younger human boys with them. There was a ferry girl waiting for them by the time they arrived- it seemed Koenma wasn't going to leave them there, as Hiei suspected (and had actually faintly hoped) that he would. The ferry girl, who if she gave her name Hiei either didn't catch or remember, made several trips to take them all back across to the warehouse in the living world.

When they arrived, the warehouse was crawling with Spirit World goonies- there was a team assembled that began to seal the hole as soon as they were through, several ferry girls, and a couple of medics were there to tend to the injured Spirit Detective and his friend. He recognized one of the ferry girls from his first encounter with the Spirit Detective; she was wearing a kimono in what he considered to be an unsightly shade of pink now, but it was unmistakably her. Once she was satisfied that her friends were going to be all right, she turned and walked towards Hiei and Kurama.

"Yusuke's lucky to have a friend like Kuwabara," she said to Kurama and ignoring Hiei. "He probably wouldn't even have made it back this far without him. They say that Kuwabara will probably be fine by morning, but Yusuke may take a while longer to wake up," she continued.

"I imagine Koenma would like me to stay with them, just in case?" Kurama asked.

The ferry girl nodded. "At least until Kuwabara wakes up. Your school isn't closing, so you'll probably want to go to that," she said.

"How long have we been gone?" asked Kurama.

"Oh, just under a week. It's," she glanced at her watch, "4:30 pm on Saturday. They have a ride all set up for you, and I'll be able to join you soon," she said.

Kurama frowned, apparently unsure of her meaning, but decided not to pursue the issue and walked toward where the other two boys were being tended to.

She then turned her attention to Hiei. "I'm here to explain the rest of the terms of your probation to you," she said.

He raised an eyebrow at her. "Terms?" he repeated.

"Yes," she said nonchalantly. "Follow me, please," she continued. She turned and walked out of the warehouse.

They walked in silence for several blocks, Hiei hanging several steps behind her, and eventually came to a park. She led him into an isolated section of the park, where she finally stopped. She looked around briefly, and then dug into the sleeve of her kimono, retrieving a small grey notebook. He watched her warily as she flipped through the pages.

"Let's see here... Aha!" she said, more to herself than to him. "You're to stay within half a mile of this tree," she said, gesturing, "at all times, unless you are on a mission from Koenma and are required elsewhere. You'll be required to go on all missions that Koenma sends your way, which I guess is probably why he let you out in the first place... And you're not allowed to kill humans, obviously... Oh, and I'll be coming to check on you about once a week to make sure you're being a good boy and to drop off any provisions you need," she said, looking from her notebook to him.

He didn't say anything, and when she remained silent for several moments he decided that she was finished and leapt into a nearby tree and out of her view. Startled, she looked around for a moment before she shrugged, summoned her oar, and flew away.

* * *

Several hours had passed when Hiei reopened his eyes. Kurama, Yusuke and Kuwabara were all asleep, and the only things he could hear were the soft sloshing of water against the side of the boat and the occasional creak of Botan's oar as she steered their little boat towards a small stretch of sandy bank along the cliff lined river.

Hiei enjoyed the last few moments of silence before she gently beached the vessel. "Okay boys," she said cheerfully, "everybody up!"

Yusuke and Kuwabara stretched, and Kuwabara groaned out groggily, "Are we there yet?"

"Yep, now get out and lets drag this thing out of the water," Botan replied.

Yusuke grumbled a bit under his breath, but he and the four others all made their way to the beach. After Botan jumped off, he and Kuwabara heaved it most of the way out of the water and onto the sand. "I don't think that's going anywhere," Yusuke said.

Botan nodded, and then pointed towards a narrow dirt path that wound up the forty foot tall cliff. "I hope you packed light," she said, "because that's where we're headed next."

Yusuke's face fell as he followed her finger. "Of course it is," he said through gritted teeth as he adjusted his backpack.

"There's no use whining, Urameshi," Kuwabara called, already several feet ahead of the others on the path. After several minutes climbing, the reached the top of the cliff.

"Woah," said Kuwabara, who made the assent first.

Yusuke stopped next to him. "All right, I was definitely not expecting that," he said. The highlands stretched out in front of them for miles, almost perfectly flat save for thin patches of forest far in the distance. "I thought that there were supposed to be rocks and hills out here?" he mused.

"No Yusuke," Botan said from behind him, "It's pretty flat out here. That's why the rock piles are so unusual."

"Okay, then why's this place called the highlands if it's so flat?" he shot back.

Botan sighed heavily. "Because it's _high_, Yusuke. Although I'm sure you'd rather we called them the _up_lands," she said.

"Okay Botan," Kuwabara interrupted, puffing out his chest and trying to look manly, "You've gotten us this far, but you should probably leave the rest to us."

"Yeah," Yusuke said. "It's not personal or anything, but we really don't need to be distracted trying to defend you if we're attacked."

"While that's a noble sentiment, I'm not going anywhere. I'm your only way out of here, and you'll be in for a very long wait without me. Besides, I know the river far better than any of you, so if we got really lost I could at least get us to safety," she said.

"While I hate to agree with the oaf, you will only slow us down," Hiei chimed in, "If you're truly concerned we won't make it out, wait for us here."

She was surprised for a moment- it was unlike him to weigh in on such matters- but she recovered quickly.

"There is absolutely no way that you are leaving me here alone," she said seriously.

Kurama stepped between them to diffuse the situation. "Botan is right," he said placatingly, "We need to stick together."

There was some residual grumbling from the others, but none of them decided to pursue the issue. She shot Kurama a grateful look and proceeded to dig the map out of her jeans pocket.

"Okay," she said as she unfolded the map, knelt down and placed the map on the ground where they could all see, "We're right here, and the closest orb is here," she said pointing to a spot on the edge of the map and moving her finger to the first marked rock pile. "Now, if they got here the same way we did which is pretty likely, seeing as they would have had to climb a sheer cliff everywhere else, that's probably the first orb they found... So we should probably check it out first," she said, looking up at Yusuke.

"Makes sense to me," he said.

"Well, it's right by these two patches of forest," she mused, "so it should be roughly there," she continued, pointing to the forest in the distance, "which, I admit, actually seems kind of far."

"I guess there's no time to lose, then," said Kurama as he helped Botan back to her feet.

"I hate hiking," Yusuke grumbled as they started their long walk towards the distant woods.

* * *

Several hours later they were finally closing in on the edge of the forest, now only a hundred yards or so away. The Highlands may have been flat, but as the day wore on the temperature rose into the nineties, and with no shade from clouds, the only relief came from the bouts of dry wind that howled across the plains.

Botan was growing increasingly uneasy the longer they were out in the open. They had long since given up on conversing to pass the time (it seemed like whenever they did the wind picked up and swept their words away) and there were no insects or birds on the highlands; the eerie silence was only ever interrupted by the wind rushing through the dry grass at their feet. And even though she knew she was being crazy- _nothing lived in the highlands,_ she reminded herself- she simply could not shake the feeling that there was something watching her. She felt certain that if it was the demon intruders that the others would have caught on to their presence, but they didn't seem as weary as she.

They continued their march along the edge of the forest, choosing to use it as a landmark rather than for cover as they searched for the rock pile on the map.

Botan looked down at the map, which she had folded to show only the relevant portion, and up at their surroundings. "We should be getting pretty close now," she called over the wind to Yusuke.

"Are you sure?" he called back. "I definitely don't see anything besides trees and grass around here."

"Well, this map isn't particularly detailed," she said, "but it's got to be around here somewhere!"

"Hey, what's that?" Kuwabara asked, pointing to something on the ground about 30 feet from them.

"Let's go check it out," Yusuke said.

A minute or so later, they were close enough to see what exactly Kuwabara had spotted. It was the body of a demon, with its torso partially crushed- and as they drew closer it was clear that there were at least a dozen more bodies strewn about.

"What happened here?" Yusuke asked.

"Looks like a fight," Kuwabara said.

"Botan, I thought you said nothing lived out here," Yusuke said, not looking up from the fallen demon at his feet.

"No, nothing," she said nervously, "At least nothing we know about."

Yusuke looked at Kurama. "You think they're fighting each other?" he asked.

"They could be," Kurama replied, "But judging from these tracks, I would guess not. If they had brought whatever beast made these with them, we would have seen them before. Besides, nothing this large came up the path we did," he reasoned.

"Then what the hell _did_ make these?" Yusuke mused.

"The only way to find out is to follow the leader," Kuwabara said, pointing to a set of tracks that led past the forest.

They didn't have far to go before they found the source of the tracks. After rounding a bend of trees, they found the massive, bloodied carcass of a huge creature. Closest to them were its massive stone hooves, clearly the origin of the footprints and responsible for the crushed demons. It appeared to have large, bull-like stone horns on either side of its head.

"Woah," Kuwabara and Yusuke said together.

"That thing's gotta be like 50 feet long," Kuwabara breathed.

"So much for nothing living out here, eh Botan?" Yusuke said quietly.

After standing in awe of the creature for several moments, Yusuke pulled himself together. "All right," he said, "let's spread out and see what we can find out."

As they circled the creature, they could see that it had large, rocky growths all over its body and that its fur was nearly identical to the dry grass of the plains. As Botan drew close to the back of its head, she could see where a huge hole had been hacked into the creature and her heart dropped. "I think I found where the orb was," she called. The others came and joined her.

"Oh man!" Kuwabara gasped when he arrived.

"Looks like it was probably alive when they cut it out," Yusuke remarked somberly to Kurama, who nodded.

Botan, not wanting to imagine the beast's last moments turned her head away from the scene and caught a glimpse of something moving along the tree line from the corner of her eye. Surprised and a slightly frightened, she whipped around, trying to get a better look, just in time to see what appeared to be a hooded figure disappear into the trees.

"What is it?" Kurama asked, concerned.

"I thought I saw someone in the trees," she said softly.

"I'm sure it was nothing," he said, placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Probably just a shadow."

"Of course," she said. "A shadow..." She turned back toward the body of the creature and had a stroke of inspiration. She took off her rucksack and dug around in it for a moment, coming up with 2 demon compasses and a first aid kit. Looking pleased with herself, she walked up to the fallen giant and took a pair of scissors from her kit. She trimmed off some of its straw-colored fur and placed it inside the first compass. Then she walked over to the nearest demon and did the same, and replaced the scissors and kit back in her bag.

As she walked back to the group Yusuke said, "Okay, Botan, care to share with the class?"

She looked at him, puzzled, for a split second before she replied. "Hm? Oh, yes, of course. See, the demon compass can track spirit energy, as you know, but if that energy is masked somehow you can use some hair to help boost the signal," she explained. "So since we don't really know how many demons there are or really where the next big creature will be, I figured it might help us find them," she said.

Neither Yusuke nor anybody else believed very strongly in the compass' abilities to do what she said, but Yusuke at the very least decided to let it go.

"It's starting to get dark," Kurama said. "We should thinking about making camp for the night.

Yusuke looked up at the sky, and saw that, indeed, the sun was beginning to set. "It gets dark in the Spirit World?" he mused.

"Every day," Botan said.

"All right," Yusuke said, "let's get out of here. I'm sure I'm not the only one that doesn't want to sleep to close to this guy," he said, gesturing at the creature with his thumb, "and let's try to stay well inside the forest. Don't want any uninvited visitors," he said. The others nodded their agreement, and the set off into the woods.

They walked for forty-five minutes before the light had faded to the point they decided they had to stop. They began to settle in for the night when once again, Botan could have sworn she saw a dark figure moving about in the trees. She glanced at Kurama, who apparently hadn't seen anything, and decided not to bring it up. Telling herself it was just a shadow, Botan lay down and tried to sleep.

In the tree above her, however, Hiei watched the spot in the forest where Botan had seen movement. He'd seen it too.

* * *

Sorry for the outrageous time between posts. For full author's notes, please see my blog (sachiewrites on tumblr). I'm looking forward to your reviews- critical feedback is especially welcome. Please point out bad grammar, especially Shatner commas, which I am terrible about including.


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